The Bishop

A bishop is a priest who has been appointed by the Pope to receive episcopal consecration that allows him to fulfill three principal functions: sanctifying, teaching, and ruling. In the Catholic Church, a bishop is considered to be a successor of the Apostles by divine institution. Through his episcopal consecration, a bishop is a teacher of doctrine, a priest of sacred worship, and a minister of governance.

A bishop is called "diocesan" when the care of a diocese has been entrusted to him.

The Bishop Emeritus

When a diocesan bishop retires, he becomes the bishop emeritus of the diocese. He continues his ministry as a priest, and may, at the wish or need of the diocesan bishop, confer sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Orders.


Bishops of the Diocese of Tucson

Bishop John Baptist Salpointe -- Appointed Vicar Apostolic of Arizona (the precursor to the Diocese of Tucson) in 1868. He served as Vicar Apostolic until 1885 when he was appointed Archbishop of Santa Fe.

Bishop Peter Bourgade -- Appointed Vicar Apostolic of Arizona in 1885. Appointed first Bishop of Tucson in 1897 when the Vicariate Apostolic of Arizona was erected as the Diocese of Tucson. He served as Bishop of Tucson until his appointment as fourth Archbishop of Santa Fe in 1899.

Bishop Henry Granjon -- Appointed second Bishop of Tucson in 1900. He served until his death in 1922.

Bishop Daniel J. Gercke -- Appointed third Bishop of Tucson in 1922. He served until his resignation in 1960.

Bishop Francis J. Green -- Appointed as first auxiliary Bishop of Tucson in 1953. Appointed coadjutor bishop in 1960. Succeeded to the See of Tucson and became fourth Bishop of Tucson in 1960. He served until his retirement in 1981. (During Bishop Green’s episcopacy, he oversaw the formation of the Diocese of Phoenix from the counties of the northern part of the Diocese of Tucson in 1969.)

Bishop Manuel D. Moreno -- Appointed fifth Bishop of Tucson in 1982 by Pope John Paul II. Bishop Moreno was appointed an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1976. He served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese from 1977 until his appointment as the fifth Bishop of Tucson.

Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas -- Appointed coadjutor Bishop of Tucson in 2002 by PopeJohn Paul II. Became the sixth Bishop of Tucson upon the retirement of Bishop Moreno on March 7, 2003.

Bishops Salpointe, Bourgade, and Granjon were French. Their appointments as bishop were through the relationship of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe to the Church in France.

Bishop Gercke was from Philadelphia and was of German descent. He was a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia at the time of his appointment as bishop.

Bishop Green was from New York, but grew up in Arizona. He was of Irish descent. He was a priest of the Diocese of Tucson at the time of his appointment as bishop.

Bishop Moreno is from California and is of Hispanic descent. He was Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles at the time of his appointment as Bishop of Tucson.

Bishop Kicanas is a native of Chicago and is of Lebanese descent. He was Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago at the time of his appointment as Coadjutor Bishop of Tucson.

Bishop Kicanas was the second coadjutor bishop in the 104 year history of the Diocese of Tucson.

Bishop Francis J. Green was the first, serving as coadjutor with Bishop Daniel J. Gercke for several months in 1960 after serving as auxiliary bishop for seven years. Bishop Green became the fourth Bishop of Tucson in October of 1960 with the resignation of Bishop Gercke.

About the Diocese of Tucson

A diocese is a particular church, a fully organized ecclesiastical jurisdiction under the pastoral direction of a bishop. A diocese usually has a defined territory. The territory of the diocese is divided into distinct parts known as parishes.

The Diocese of Tucson was erected (established) in 1897 after having been named a Vicariate Apostolic in 1868.

The Diocese of Tucson today is comprised of nine counties (La Paz, Yuma, Pinal, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, Santa Cruz, Cochise, and Pima) with an area of 42,707 square miles. Geographically, the Diocese is the fifth largest diocese in the continental United States. Because of its socio-economic characteristics and predominantly rural nature, the Diocese is considered a "mission" diocese in the U.S.

The secular (civil) identity of the Diocese is "The Roman Catholic Church of the Diocese of Tucson, a Corporation Sole." This means that the Bishop of Tucson is, in effect, the corporation. This corporate status passes from bishop to bishop.

Historical Note: The "corporation sole" identity in Arizona stems from a law of the Arizona Territory, passed in 1903, permitting "any person being the archbishop, bishop, president, trustee in trust, president of stake, overseer, presiding elder, rabbi, or clergyman of any church or religious society" to become a corporation sole "with continual perpetual succession."

In a total population of 1.45-million within the nine counties of the Diocese, there are an estimated 350,000-plus registered Roman Catholics. The Diocese has 73 parishes, dozens of missions, 20 parochial schools, and offices for administration and program services. Providing ministry in the Diocese are 170 priests, 239 sisters, 9 brothers, and 124 permanent deacons. The Diocese has more than 900 lay employees who work in its parishes, schools, and administrative and program offices.

Affiliated with the Diocese through the Bishop of Tucson as chairman of their boards of directors are the separate non-profit corporations of Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona (with six member agencies), the Catholic Foundation for the Diocese of Tucson, the Catholic Tuition Support Organization, and the Diocese of Tucson Catholic Cemeteries and the Diocese of Tucson Charity and Ministry Fund. Those corporations have more than 600 employees.

The Diocese also includes charitable, fraternal, and spiritual organizations that serve the Diocese and communities within the diocese through their unique Catholic identities and missions as separate non-profit corporations. These include seven private Catholic schools and the three Catholic hospitals operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.

The Diocese of Tucson traces its roots to the Jesuit missionary and explorer Padre Eusebio Kino who first came the Pimeria Alta (the area of the northwestern Sonora Desert that includes Tucson) in the late 1600s). At various times in its history, the area that now is the Diocese of Tucson has been under the ecclesiastical authority of bishops of Spain, Mexico, and the United States.